Dog missing for years reunited with Calif. owners

PALO ALTO, Calif. (AP) -- A San Francisco Bay area family has been reunited with its dog more than four years after he went missing.

The Palo Alto Daily News reports (http://bit.ly/YlpDcp) that Oreo _ a black and white Boston terrier _ was spotted on Tuesday near a public storage facility in Daly City and taken to the Peninsula Humane Society's San Mateo shelter.

A microchip planted under his skin helped track down his owners.

Brandon Springer told the newspaper Oreo belonged to his grandmother, who died last May. The dog had escaped from a yard when a gate was left open four and a half years ago, and the family thought it was gone for good.

Springer says Oreo was suffering from a dislocated hip and broken kneecap. But he was otherwise disease free, indicating he had been cared for.